What’s Your JQ? (Page 5)

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, When I was growing up, “Hava Nagila” was the typical, clichéd Jewish must-be-played song — now suddenly it’s “in” for real. I am being sent e-mail after e-mail with a link to a YouTube video of “Hava Nagila” that shatters its uncool standing. It got meContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, Dear Rivy, Is it my imagination or has Tu B’Shevat taken on a significance beyond its original intent? When I was growing up we bought a few JNF trees — a quarter each; put the quarters in the cute little slots, ate some bokser and weContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I have come to the conclusion that Jews have a hang-up with hair. Think about it: first there’s Samson, then there’s women’s head coverings, and there’s the Hassidic men with beards and side curls. What is up with all of this attentionContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I don’t know where else to turn. I am very down — my father is a Hasmonean Maccabee and has been hiding out in the Judean hills for the entire winter. Before he left, I let him know I had little sympathyContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Every year, my children come home from Hebrew School telling me that their teachers told them that they should not go “trick or treating” on Halloween, and that Halloween is not for Jewish children. I tell them that there is nothing wrongContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Around January 1 every year there is a lot of talk about New Year’s Resolutions. Do we Jews have anything like that at Rosh Hashanah time? Though we have the whole repentance, t’shuvah thing happening, which is far more intense and introspectiveContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, As we prepare to dip that apple in honey and to get into gear for major honey cake baking, I wonder about the theme of sweetness at this time of year. Rosh Hashanah is a time of judgment, introspection and somber reflection.Continue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, My father recently passed away and I find myself saying the Kaddish prayer on a daily basis. Even after reading it over many times, I still don’t understand the connection between it and the death of my father. I hear Kaddish saidContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I am pretty new to Judaism, taking a few classes here and there, and often find that it’s all about thinking and intellectual arguing. I’m not such a left-brain person and I struggle with the Torah’s emphasis on intellectual pursuits. My trulyContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, After seeing the movie The Secret I purchased the book and have become very drawn to this approach to life. Friends have suggested that the whole Secret phenomenon is not only ridiculous, but a not very Jewish attitude to life. What doContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, As we process the horrific shootings in Virginia Tech I, cannot help but wonder about the Jewish approach to this kind of senseless loss of life. Why were these people killed? Was this their fate? Why does God allow these kinds ofContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist This column is dedicated to my father, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday this past week of Parshat Yitro, in which the Torah records the episode of the revelation at Sinai and Ten Commandments. Dear Rivy, I have always wondered about the Ten Commandments. AreContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I grew up without a Jewish education, but have come to love learning. I have finally, after many years of wavering, gotten up the courage to take a beginner’s Hebrew class. I am really struggling and ready to give up. With soContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Please settle this argument between myself and my spouse. I say dreidels are a Jewish version of a typical child’s toy that we plunked Hebrew letters on, she claims that the dreidel is a uniquely Jewish toy. Which is it? Before settlingContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I recently read about the ‘kosher chicken’ scandal on the East Coast. It seems that a supermarket had been re-packaging non-kosher chicken as kosher for quite some time. Community members are beyond furious. Is it really such a tragedy to eatContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, My daughter is getting married and we are having a Jewish wedding. Her father and stepfather are not Jewish. I would like her to dance with her dads to ‘Butterfly Kisses’ by Bob Carlisle, but some lyrics might not be appropriateContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist I am so deeply disturbed about the events of this summer. It seems like all we Jews have been experiencing is misery. I do not know how to get out of this overwhelming sense of sadness and depression. Is the situation in IsraelContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I am reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I am enjoying it very much. The storyline is laced with fascinating religious-themed exchanges between characters. Though the discussions are of a Christian nature they have gotten me thinking aboutContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik , JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, In honor of Mother’s Day I decided to prepare a speech, a d’var Torah, about mothers and daughters in the Torah. I thought it was a good idea. I began my research in earnest but had quite a hard time findingContinue Reading